1. Technological Field
The present disclosure relates generally to the field of wireless communication and data networks. More particularly, in one exemplary aspect, the disclosure is directed to methods and apparatus for hybrid access to a core network.
2. Description of Related Technology
The rapid growth of mobile data services accelerated by, inter alia, the advent of so-called “smartphone” technologies has resulted in a steep increase in the volume of high-speed data transmission and the popularity of mobile services. Coupled with increased popularity is the increased customer expectation for better and more reliable services and network capabilities. Short term solutions for alleviating high capacity demands include unpopular practices such as “data rate throttling”, introducing limited and expensive tariffs, and phasing out “unlimited data plans”. Longer term solutions require new access technologies (such as Long Term Evolution (LTE)) to meet the customer demands, and further require costly infrastructure investments.
Examples of incipient solutions include e.g., so-called “small cell” (e.g., femtocells, picocells, and microcells), “HetNet” (heterogeneous network) and “Wi-Fi Offloading”. As a brief aside, small cell technologies require backhaul connectivity to the network operator's core network; this can complicate deployment as small cells may not have access to sufficient frequency resources, but still require the high capacity underlay (i.e., carrier grade connectivity must be provided at much higher cost per bit). HetNets incorporate multiple different network technologies, and can experience co-channel interference between macro cells and underlay cells. In contrast, there is no shortage of spectrum with “Wi-Fi offloading”, Wi-Fi hotspots operate in unlicensed (license exempt) bands where there is an abundance of spectrum (the Industrial Scientific and Medical (ISM) and Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) bands may provide nearly 0.5 GHz of spectrum). For this reason, Wi-Fi offloading is very attractive to network operators; in fact, some small cell base stations have integrated Wi-Fi Access Point (AP) functionalities (e.g., “Wi-Fi ready”).
Despite these benefits, there are several fundamental problems associated with Wi-Fi offloading systems and networks. Existing network operators treat the cellular and Wi-Fi networks as two separate business units, which are operated and managed separately. There is also very little integration and interworking between the two networks at operation and services levels. For example, Wi-Fi networks do not have a standard “discovery”, “selection” and “access” mechanism and/or procedure. This can result in difficulty getting onto these networks and/or inconsistent Quality of Service (QoS), security and policies. Moreover, cellular networks typically implement a single subscriber identification module (SIM) that is configured to acquire, register, authenticate and cipher communications; in contrast, Wi-Fi networks are based on a variety of “web-based” authentication methods which rely on Wireless Internet Service Provider roaming (WISPr) (or similar variant). WISPr requires that the user enter a user name and a password, which are then authenticated by e.g., a AAA/RADIUS server; this step is both inconvenient and prone to error.
In view of these deficiencies, improved methods and apparatus are needed to enable access to mobile wireless (e.g., cellular) networks utilizing other network technologies. Such improvements would ideally provide an integrated solution for merging e.g., Wi-Fi and cellular networks, making e.g., user experience, policy control, discovery, selection and association, authentication, and QoS, seamless and similar in both networks. Other benefits may include e.g., Wi-Fi roaming, Wi-Fi neutral host, and IP-mobility capabilities, while providing network handoffs for an integrated cellular-Wi-Fi network.